Department of Criminal Justice California State University - Bakersfield CRJU 330 Race, Ethnicity and Criminal Justice Dr. Abu-Lughod, Reem Ali CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION: How to Protect Society: 1) by putting an end to poverty, investing in more quality education, creating more jobs, creating a different image to the inner city 2) Let the crime fit the harm and the punishment fit the crime. Make laws and enforce them no matter what the class of individuals is. This does not necessarily mean to punish corporate individuals as “criminals” but set rules and laws

3. Legalize the production of illicit drugs and treat addiction as a medical problem 4. Develop correctional programs that promote better future for ex-offenders to be released back to the community 5. Enact and vigorously enforce stringent gun control

Promoting Justice 1. Limit discretionary powers of authoritative people (police, prosecutors, etc…) and hold them accountable 2. Transform the equal right to counsel to equal counsel as far as it is possible 3. Establish a just contribution of wealth and income and make equal opportunity a reality for all Americans

F Reiman critiques himself in his book and offers explanations for his choices. Some of these critiques include using the UCR reports for statistics, the harms of legalizing drugs and sounding like he does not feel criminals, specifically the poor should be sentenced to prison.

F To start off, Reiman chooses the UCR data because he feels it bests represents the violent crimes, crimes that are not often under-reported to a large degree. He argues for legalizing such drugs as marijuana, cocaine and heroin, as they are not as harmful as nicotine, yet that is available to the public. He feels the results of not legalizing drugs are too severe. F As for believing that the poor should not be sent to prison, he disagrees. He feels they are guilty for their crimes, but they should be punished no more harshly than anyone else for the same crimes.

Marxian Critique of Criminal Justice u The struggle between the powerful and powerless u The fight for status u Marx’s theory that those in power succeed by repressing the poor, while the pyrrhic defeat theory argues that the system serves the powerful by its failure to reduce crime

The Power of Ideology u Some argue that ideology is a set of false beliefs, and is just a way of looking at things. but Reiman argues otherwise. u Reiman argues that people often make rational judgments based on their experiences in life, perceptions, etc…. u If we argue that people are irrational then there will not be any social change in society. So we have to be optimistic

u The problem is that even though people in society are not ignorant about how economics drives policy, they seem not to be too outraged when a case such as the O.J. case takes place u The purpose of ideology is to offer social change u In terms of Marx’s ideas, the ideology of the ruling class is made in a way that the interests of the ruling class will serve the interests of society as a whole